Motivation and
Work Behavior
SeventhEdition
Pous)
LymanW. Porter
GraduateSchoolof Management
IJ niuer sity of C alif ornia-Ir q,tine
GregoryA. Bigley
U niuer sity of Washington
RichardM. Steers
Lund4uistCollegeof Business
[,Jniuersityof Oregon
McGraw-Hill
lrwin
B o s to n B u rrR i d ge,l L D ubuque,l A Madi son,W l N ew Y ork S an Franci sco St . Louis
Bangkok Bogota Caracas KualaLumpur Lisbon London Madrid MexicoCity
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126
Part One
InitialConsiderations
Social Cognitive Theory and Self.efficacy:
Implications for Motivation Theory and Practice
Alexander D. Stajkovic
Fred Luthans
The purposeof this articleis to show how socialcognitivetheory (SCT) and its main conandpracticeof work motistructof self-efficacycancontributeto the betterunderstanding
relate
human
the
five
basic
capabilitiesidentified by
vation. We first summarizeand
generally
recognized
as the core of SCT:
that
are
StanfordpsychologistAlbert Bandura
(1) symbolizing,(2) forethought,(3) vicarious learning,(4) self-regulation,and (5) selfreflection.The balanceof the articleis concernedwith self-efficacy.Closelyrelatedto selfregulationand reflection,self-efficacyis definedas an individual's belief (or confidence)
abouthis or her abilitiesto mobilize motivation,cognitiveresources,and coursesof action
neededto successfullyexecutea specifictask within a given context (Bandura,L997;
Stajkovic& Luthans,1998a,1998b).We suggestthat self-efficacymakesan importantcontribution to work motivation.
PARADOXAT WORK
MOTIVATIONAL
THECURRENT
Now in the uncertain economy of the 21st century, more than ever, organizations face the
dilemma of becoming more effective by improving performance, but without increasing
costs. Since this is the era of artificial intelligence-computer-aided designs,computer-aided
manufacturing, and e-business-the typical responsein recent years has been...